Mr. Saul Pedregon
Assistant City Attorney
Criminal Law and Police Division
City of Dallas
City Hall
Dallas, Texas 75201

OR99-0755

Dear Mr. Pedregon:

You ask whether certain information is subject to required public disclosure under the Texas
Open Records Act, chapter 552 of the Government Code. Your request was assigned
ID# 122771.

The Dallas Police Department (the "department") received a request for specific internal
affairs investigations. You claim that the submitted investigative reports are excepted from
disclosure under sections 552.101, 552.108, and 552.117 of the Government Code. We have
considered the exceptions you claim and have reviewed the submitted information.

First, you claim that you may withhold the names of civilian witnesses based upon section
552.108. We disagree. Section 552.108(b) of the Government Code excepts from disclosure
"[a]n internal record or notation of a law enforcement agency or prosecutor that is maintained
for internal use in matters relating to law enforcement or prosecution...if:(1) release of the
internal record or notation would interfere with law enforcement or prosecution; (2) the
internal record or notation relates to law enforcement only in relation to an investigation that
did not result in conviction or deferred adjudication[.]" After reviewing your arguments, we
conclude that you have not shown how releasing the witnesses' identities will interfere with
law enforcement. Consequently, the department may not withhold any of the submitted
information under section 552.108.

Next, you argue that some of the information in the investigative files is confidential under
section 552.117(2). We agree. Section 552.117(2) of the Government Code provides that
information is excepted from disclosure if it relates to a peace officer's home address, home
telephone number, social security number, or reveals whether the peace officer has family
members. Cf. Open Records Decision Nos. 622 (1994) (section 552.117 excepts from
disclosure former home addresses and former home telephone numbers), 455 (1987). Thus,
you must withhold this information as contained within the submitted documents.

Some of the investigated employees are not peace officers, however, section 552.117 (1) may
protect some information concerning them. Section 552.117(1) of the Government Code
provides that information is excepted from disclosure if it relates to a current or former
employee's home address, home telephone number, social security number, or reveals
whether the employee has family members. Section 552.117(1) requires you to withhold this
information if a current or former employee requested that this information be kept
confidential under section 552.024. See Open Records Decision Nos. 622 (1994), 455
(1987). The department may not, however, withhold this information for a current or former
employee who made a request for confidentiality under section 552.024 after this request for
information was made. Whether a particular piece of information is public must be
determined at the time the request for it is made. Open Records Decision No. 530 at 5
(1989).

Finally, we note that some of the submitted information is protected from disclosure by a
right of privacy. Section 552.101 excepts from disclosure "information considered to be
confidential by law, either constitutional, statutory, or by judicial decision." Section 552.101
also encompasses the doctrine of common-law privacy. The doctrine of common-law
privacy protects information if it is highly intimate or embarrassing such that its release
would be highly objectionable to a reasonable person and the public has no legitimate
interest in it. Industrial Found. v. Texas Indus. Accident Bd., 540 S.W.2d 668 (Tex. 1976),
cert. denied, 430 U.S. 931 (1977). The types of information considered intimate and
embarrassing by the Texas Supreme Court in Industrial Foundation included information
relating to sexual assault, pregnancy, mental or physical abuse in the workplace, illegitimate
children, psychiatric treatment of mental disorders, attempted suicide, and injuries to sexual
organs. Id. at 683. We have marked the information that is protected from disclosure under
section 552.101. The remaining information must be released.(1)

We are resolving this matter with an informal letter ruling rather than with a published open
records decision. This ruling is limited to the particular records at issue under the facts
presented to us in this request and should not be relied on as a previous determination
regarding any other records. If you have any questions regarding this ruling, please contact
our office.